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Holidays from the Heart – Gift Baskets

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season has made many people lose sight of what’s special about this time of the year. This year, instead of a gift purchased on impulse, give a gift from the heart: one made by loving hands that embraces its recipient in thoughtfulness and creates a lasting memory. We want to take you back to a time when gifts were more meaningful, when holiday family traditions were as much a gift as the box with the shiny bow. Our Holidays from the Heart series will provide you with gift ideas, decoration tips and more to prepare you for the most wonderful time of the year—full of good cheer and heartfelt traditions you can pass on to future generations. Each week until the end of December we will bring you inspiration for heartfelt gifts, fun family projects and party hosting.

Sometimes one gift is just not enough. In the spirit of giving, you can put together a thoughtful basket full of individual goodies that will warm the heart of your loved ones. You can be sure that your gift basket will stand out in many ways, set amongst all of the wrapped presents, uniformly placed together under the tree. The time and effort you dedicated to one person’s gift really will make a difference to that special someone. This week we’ll offer different gift basket ideas so you can ensure everyone on your list can feel your love.

No Bones About It!

Do you have an animal lover on your list this year, or someone who’s bringing home a new addition to their family this holiday? Our Pet Gift Basket idea is perfect! Gather some basic pet essentials and then make them unique with Swarovski flatbacks. Use our ideas as inspiration to choose appropriate colors, shapes and sizes to complement the pieces. Sneak a little extra treat in the basket for the pet parent, too! Make a necklace that will remind them of their pet, like we did with our Santa Claws necklace. Czech glass druk beads were the ideal accent to our stoneware pendant, but you can explore different beads for the same effect.

New Growth to Come in the Following Year

When winter comes to an end, your green thumb pal will be jumping at the chance to get back in the garden. Give them something to make the anticipation a little sweeter, like our Emma’s Garden Gift Basket. The basket is actually a planter box that holds small gardening tools, including a watering can and small flower pot decorated with jewelry components following a nature-inspired theme. Earth tone cabochons, gorgeous filigree butterflies and rustic base metal chain are all it takes to make an ordinary garden tool extraordinary. We even made a sweet multi-stranded bracelet with floral accents to place in the gift basket, our Sunflower Sunrise bracelet.

Silver Screen Aficionado

What better gift for a film buff than a gift basket? Use a plastic popcorn bucket to hold all of the individual presents and pick a theme that fits your recipient. Work around a favorite movie, or choose an era from the industry, like the silent film era or the golden era of film. Our Movie Gift Basket is centered around the Twilight saga with components like the Forever T-Shirt and our Bella’s Journey bracelet, but other additions like our Moon and Stars Gift Tins are suitable for any move-themed present. Fill them with Junior Mints or Jujubes for the full theater experience! Each of our ideas can be made with alternate components that best match the theme you’re going for, so use them to inspire yourself to make each one unique.

Beginning Beader Basket

If you know someone who’s starting to get into jewelry designing, a gift basket is a great way to get them started! The expert designers from our Learning Center put together a wonderful gift basket with tools and components any beginning jewelry designer would love. It includes components for making a simple design, with things like jewelry wire, the nipper tool and bead crimper tool, and beads & findings. Fire-polished Czech glass beads are a nice choice when starting out, and a simple toggle clasp with some spacers and crimp tubes are just enough to make an easy design. You can switch up our suggestions and personalize it with things the beginning beader in your life would like. We put ours together in a tote bag that the recipient will appreciate when their collection grows.

A Special Gift for Seed Beaders

If you know someone who loves designing with fine detail, like seed beads, here are some great suggestions on how to make a gift basket just for them. Our expert designers carefully selected what to put in their basket, which includes a Wildly Bohemian seed bead kit, seed bead DVD, a bead scoop and Thread Heaven. If you need more ideas for gift basket components, check out our seed bead supplies section. Find a nice wicker basket to present the items in and line it with beautiful silk or other elegant material.

Take advantage of our new arrivals of seed beads, buttons and more this week to complete your gift baskets before the holidays!